Ammoplanellus Gussakovskij, 1931

Rajan, Tessy, Kumar, P. Girish, Sureshan, P. M. & Hegde, V. D., 2024, A review of the genus Ammoplanellus Gussakovskij (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae: Pemphredoninae) from India with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 5477 (1), pp. 73-80 : 74

Genus Ammoplanellus Gussakovskij, 1931

Ammoplanellus Gussakovskij, 1931: 442 (as subgenus of Ammoplanus ). Type species: Ammoplanus chorasmius Gussakovskij, 1931 , by original designation and monotypy. Raised to genus status by Bohart in Bohart and Menke (1976: 42), treated as subgenus of Ammoplanus by Marshakov (1976, 1979) and Bouček (2001), restored to genus by Smith (2009).

Diagnosis. Clypeus truncate, with no excision on its apical margin; stigma subglobose; marginal cell of fore wing open, but in a few species where it is closed, apex of marginal cell is rounded or truncate, not sharp like that of Ammoplanus ; apart from the closed costal cell, at least one more closed cell present in hind wing; head uniformly round compared to other Ammoplanine genera with rectangular or elongated or sometimes round heads. Unlike other Ammoplanine genera, the female of Ammoplanellus lacks a pygidial plate.

Biology. According to Smith (2019), females possess no pygidial plate, unlike other ammoplanina genera which indicates that the species nest in pre-existing holes compared to others that nest in the soil. Seldom encountered through net captures, this genus is significantly more prone to be collected via methods such as malaise traps, pan traps, sticky traps (particularly when deployed on trees infested with bark beetles), or by rearing from existing holes in galls or wood ( Pate 1945; Smith 2019). Adults of this genus frequently visit the flowers of Eriogonum , Ceanothus , Dalea , Apocynum , Baccharis , Acacia , Sapindus , Adenostoma , Heteromeles , Rhamnus , Chrysothamnus , Prosopis and Tetradymia ( Bohart & Menke 1976) .

Distribution. Nearctic, Palearctic, Ethiopian and Oriental Regions ( Pulawski 2024; Bouček 2001).